The present invention relates to machinery for use in the production of a cheese product. More particularly, it pertains to an apparatus for forming multiple ropes of string cheese and cutting the ropes into individual pieces of an appropriate size for further processing and packaging.
String cheese is produced by extruding cheese into continuous ropes. Most frequently, Italian-type cheeses are used because they naturally possess string-like properties. The ropes are commonly cut into single portions and packaged for consumer consumption. The popularity of such string cheese products has heightened the need for improved methods and machinery to manufacture consumer size portions of string cheese.
For optimal manufacturing efficiency, the extrusion process should simultaneously produce multiple ropes of cheese. This presents some difficulties, however, because current cheese processing equipment is frequently bulky and not well suited to concurrently handling and cutting more than one rope of string cheese. For example, the extrusion of multiple ropes generally requires separate cutting equipment for each rope. When multiple ropes are extruded, their extrusion rates may differ and cutting all the ropes based on the length of any one rope may yield pieces of differing lengths. With multiple ropes, therefore, separate cutting equipment is needed for each rope when a uniform length cheese product is desired. One present device for cutting ropes of cheese uses dual-sided cutting blades which activate after a large counterwheel riding atop the cheese rope has measured the appropriate length. In another design, the appropriate length of cheese is determined by use of a counter weight that pivots when a cheese rope pushes down upon a trip lever. Such systems may pose space and operational difficulties when used in string cheese processing systems that simultaneously produce multiple ropes of cheese.
The shape of the extruded cheese is also an important aspect of producing string cheese products for consumer consumption. The extruded ropes are frequently intended to be round, but handling may flatten the rope and cutting can sometimes distort the shape of the cut end of the rope. For instance, some string cheese cutters cut the rope as soon as the desired length is extruded. In present designs, however, the rope remains formable immediately after extrusion and the cut end of the rope may be deformed from the desired round shape. Thus, present cheese cutting apparatuses may produce products with a deformed shape.
Additionally, present string cheese processing equipment commonly employs a variety of mechanical devices to move the cheese. Some systems use large gripper-type conveyors to transport the cheese to the cutting machinery. In other systems, cut lengths of cheese fall into trays which rock back and forth to dump the cut cheese pieces into vats. For space and economic reasons, it would be advantageous for a multiple rope string cheese processing system to use few such mechanical cheese handling devices.
Thus, it can be seen that an improved apparatus and a method are needed to form multiple ropes of string cheese and cut the ropes into individual pieces of a desired length.